Brands should go beyond visualizations and should be treated as a dynamic and evolving but comprehensive entities.

The two-dimensional approach to branding incorporates entrepreneurs' and customers' views of the brand.

The SBFunnel explains the main secret of dynamic branding: although their perspectives are different, both the entrepreneur and the customers are looking at the same brand. It is entrepreneurs’ task to understand which steps to undertake through the journey in the SBFunnel to make the best and most unique customer experience.

Start you brand journey by developing the brand story. Use an appropriate combination of brand identity elements (features, benefits, value, culture, personality, relationship, communities) and combine them in a way that will represent a unique story.

When developing a story, have in mind the idea of a minimum viable brand, which can go beyond the brand’s features even from the beginning.

If unique, features can also reflect a brand’s uniqueness. However, they should be well combined to represent a unique story!

There is no single approach or combination of brand identity elements for all situations; the trick is to find the right combination for the specific brand in a specific environment and for the specific moment.

Brand as a complex entity should be well understood by you and other team members.

Startup employees are the best brand ambassadors, but they need to understand what the brand stands for!

Unique culture and values inside the company can represent an important distinguishing element for target customers. When a startup grows, these values need to be well communicated among the company and new employees.

Make a winning combination: Develop a brand that will cover the specific needs and wishes of modern customers and use innovative, unconventional marketing tactics!

Understand communication as a dialogue or conversation that invites customers as brand co-creators and turns them into brand ambassadors.

“Get out of the building”, as Steve Blank says, or even stay inside, but be sure you understand your customers!

Customers love talking, giving feedback, and expressing their thoughts about brands, but you need to be skillful in inviting and asking them properly! It is your task to know who to ask and what are good questions to ask your target customers!

Understand who you should invite to participate in brand validation and evaluation. Don’t ask only your friends, who will generally only confirm your ideas.

Invite and engage customers as brand co-creators to validate separate elements of your minimum viable brand even before you launch the brand.

"In their book, Startup Branding Funnel, Professors Maja and Mitja Ruzzier go straight to the heart of a process to find a perfect brand/market fit that is clear, logical, and of crucial importance to any early stage company that seeks long-term success. Startup Branding Funnel is well documented with current, digital, tangible examples for illustration, and a thorough research basis in today’s extensive literature on the subject. The professors are clearly thought-leaders in the area of branding and their book constitutes a ‘must-read’ for startup founders and intelligent investors, alike."
Jeff Burton, entrepreneur and educator, San Francisco Bay Area, USA

"The book shows branding as an integral part of business development for startups. I loved the comprehensive model with this emphasis, because branding is inevitable, but often underestimated part of a business plan. Startup Branding Funnel shows how to develop a distinctive brand and identity within other stages of startup development. With a lot of practical examples and guidelines, this book serves as an excellent handbook for any entrepreneur."
Anže Voje, PR professional

"Drawing on a plethora of cases and neatly driven by the Startup Branding Funnel, this well grounded book should be of assistance to startups. Written by two respected academics who contribute to advancing knowledge, this book admirably clarifies a well conceived approach to branding for startups."Professor Leslie de Chernatony,
author of From Brand Vision to Brand Evaluation and lead author of Creating Powerful Brands

"Everyone has great ideas but putting them into action is another thing. For me this book was an eye opener. It encouraged me to start thinking out of the box and putting thoughts into actions.
A big thanks to Maja in Mitja for sharing their knowledge with us through this book."Sonja Prislan, Creative director at FlyKly

About authors

Maja is an associate professor of marketing (at Faculty of Economics, UL), specialized in branding. Mitja started his career as an entrepreneur with his own company but recently moved to academics. Currently, he is a professor of entrepreneurship (at Faculty of Management, UP). Maja is systematic and a good observer of people and their changes in behavior. Mitja is a visionary and creative person. They have also joined forces professionally at the intersection of their primary professional areas as well as their different personal characters. In addition to being lecturers, researchers, consultants and speakers, they are the authors of several books, including Marketing for Entrepreneurs and SMEs. Read more Lately, they have begun to observe startups and their approach toward branding. In doing so, they have travelled to and visited many startups around the globe, including startups from Silicon Valley and the East Coast in the USA as well as startups in different European countries. Their passion lies in discovering the challenges of branding – specifically, how brands evolve into dynamic entities and engage entrepreneurs and modern consumers to become their co-creators. This was also the approach in their latest book, Startup Branding Funnel, which they prepared together with more than 40 co-creators (successful startup founders and other stakeholders) around the globe.